A traffic stop Saturday led to the apprehension of a man accused of killing his 62 year old father in Mount Holly.

Mount Holly Interim Police Chief David James said police found the body of Ashwin Patel inside his home at 303 Gaston Ave. around 11 p.m. Friday after a family member, concerned about not being able to contact anyone at the residence, called authorities.

Jiten Ashwin Patel, 28, is charged with first-degree murder, being held without bond at the Gaston County Jail.

Police said he was on the run for about 12 hours until noon on Saturday, when police caught up with his gold Toyota Camry at the top of the I 85 South exit ramp on Ozark Avenue in Gastonia. An officer reportedly recognized the car from a description and checked the license plate. The Camry was towed to Mount Holly Police Department for further investigation.

Ashwin Kumar Vaghjibhai Patel died of several gunshot wounds, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, in what became the first homicide of the year in Gaston County. Authorities have not released where in the home Patel's body was found or what type of gun was used.

He was last heard from around 4 p.m. Friday, James said. Jiten Patel was not home when police arrived late Friday but left a note explaining that he was sorry for what he did and that he was going to kill himself, according to the affidavit.

Officers immediately started a search and put out an all points bulletin for the suspect.

Jiten Patel has a criminal record in North Carolina. He was convicted of felony larceny in Jackson County in August 2005 and served seven months in prison.

In December 2002, he was convicted of a drug charge in Jackson County and placed on probation.

Hard worker

Paul Anderson, who lives next door to the Patels on Gaston Avenue, said he’s known the family for two decades. They’re close-knit and work hard operating a BP service station on N.C. 16 outside Mount Holly and a laundromat on Woodlawn Avenue, near North Main Street in town, he said.

Ashwin Patel’s wife called him around 8 p.m. Friday, while in Raleigh visiting family. She tried calling her home in Mount Holly, but couldn’t reach anyone.

Anderson looked to see how many cars were parked in the Patel’s driveway and, at first, thought all were accounted for. He later realized one was missing – the Camry driven by Jiten Patel.

“It wasn’t until the police actually arrived and I was talking on the phone (with Mrs. Patel), I said ‘You’re in Raleigh, right?’ She said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Did you drive up there?’ She said ‘No.’ I said, ‘Then there is a car missing.’”

Anderson said Jiten Patel worked with his father at the BP station and he’d never known the two men to fight. Ashwin Patel was dedicated to his job, he said.

“I’m talking he’d be gone at 5 o’clock in the morning and sometimes not come home until 11 o’clock at night, opening and closing their store,” Anderson said. “I cut their grass in the summer because they were never home in the daylight hours to do it.”

Describing them as a close family often hosting reunions, Anderson said the violent death is shocking.

“They’ve got family all the way from the north border to the south border of the country,” Anderson said. “And they have (a gathering) at least every month or every two months. They’ll have my yard and driveway full (of cars) and their whole front yard will be full of cars.”